Black legislators fire up State House rally opposed to immigration bill in Legislature

MONTGOMERY -- A group of black legislators, recalling Alabama's civil rights struggles in the 1960s, on Thursday fired up a State House rally in opposition to an Arizona-style immigration bill pending in the Legislature.

About 200 people, most of them Latinos, gathered on the steps of the State House for the demonstration, which featured speeches by community activists from around the state.

But the rally didn't get a spark until a handful of legislators, all Democrats, took to the microphone.

The crowd hoisted signs saying, "Stop Juan Crow" and "Don't Spend My Tax Dollars on Your Hate" as Rep. Merika Coleman of Birmingham pointed out that the rally was being held in Montgomery and she was from Birmingham -- two key 1960s civil rights battlegrounds.

"I stand here with you and I stand here for you," said Coleman, who led the crowd in chanting, "No to HB56."

The bill by Rep. Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, has cleared a House committee and is in position for a vote by the full House.

It would let a police officer determine someone's immigration status after stopping or arresting the person in connection with another state or local law. Among other provisions, the bill also would make it a crime to knowingly transport an illegal immigrant, even to take someone to a doctor or grocery store; and require employers to use either E-Verify, an electronic federal program, or a proposed state telephone verification system to ensure new employees are authorized to work in the United States.

Sam Brooke, an attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Immigrant Justice Project, said in an interview that, if the bill is enacted into law, it immediately will be challenged in federal court.

Implementation of a similar bill in Arizona was blocked by a U.S. District Court judge and an appeal is pending before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Rep. Napoleon Bracy Jr. of Mobile told the crowd that Hammon's bill would "force the local police departments to go out and racially profile you and harass you."

"The problem is they (the Republican majority) think Alabama belongs to them," he said. "They don't realize they are immigrants too. They try to make me feel like all my people are criminals. We're not all criminal. We're good hard-working citizens."

Isabel Rubio, executive director of the Birmingham-based Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, said her biggest concern with Hammon's bill is the increased burden it would place on law enforcement.

Rubio also said it would erode "already tenuous relationships" between immigrant communities and law enforcement. She said she was especially concerned that victims of domestic violence would be hesitant to report incidents to authorities.

Samuel Masdon, a former Montgomery judge and now a public defender, called the bill "absolutely pure racism."

"If all the folks here illegal were six feet tall and had blonde hair and blue eyes from Sweden, you think we'd be having this problem? I think not," he said.

Rosa Roussaint-Ortiz, an activist with the Huntsville International Help Center, brought 30 people to the rally to lobby Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, who attended the rally. Roussaint-Ortiz said she came to the United States in 1978 when she joined the Army.